IPH Faculty and Wellcome Trust DBT India Alliance research fellows Upendra Bhojani and Pragati Hebbar attended the 9th Annual Fellows’ Meet in Bengaluru from June 13 – 15th 2019. The annual fellows meet serves as a platform to bring together India Alliance Fellows and other grant recipients from prestigious research institutes together to foster collaboration, support and exchange of ideas across a wide range of research areas.
Both Pragati and Upendra presented their work during the first year of their fellowships through scientific poster sessions. Upendra Bhojani was invited to present his work and research supported by India Alliance during this meet. Upendra gave a talk titled “Commercial Determinants of health: the political economy of tobacco in India”, available for viewinghere.
Given the present focus on and the growing concern of
the role of corporations in promoting products and choices that are mass produced
and are in general detrimental to health, Upendra’s talk was relevant and well-received.
At the Fellows meet, new committee members were introduced. Wellcome Trust and DBT India Alliance also launched new grant opportunities such as the Team Science Grants and grants to establish virtual Clinical/Public Health Research Centres, in order to provide a platform for collaborating and strengthening important research initiatives in India.
Dr. Upendra Bhojani was invited to participate in a National Consultation on Tobacco and Lung Health organized by the World Health Organization (WHO) country office in partnership with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) in New Delhi on 31st May 2019 to observe the occasion of World No Tobacco Day (WNTD). The annual World No Tobacco Day is organised by the WHO for advocating for effective policies to reduce tobacco consumption and engaging stakeholders across multiple sectors in the fight for tobacco control. The theme for 2019, “Tobacco and Lung Health” focuses on “the negative impact that tobacco has on people’s lung health, from cancer to chronic respiratory disease and the fundamental role lungs play for the health and well-being of all people.” During the award ceremony, prizes were awarded to acknowledge the work of individuals and organizations in their exceptional efforts toward promoting tobacco control in India. Additionally, scientific documents titled
Tobacco use and Lung Health: From evidence to policy in India
were released during the event, providing an overview of tobacco use and providing multi-pronged recommendations to reduce the burden of tobacco attributable lung diseases in India. An official website dedicated to the National Tobacco Control Program was also launched during the same day.
This workshop and public dialogue examined critical questions in the context of dynamic policy environments and brought together academics, practitioners and others interested in the role of professional medical associations as key stakeholders in shaping health policy. The panelists shared their research and experiences, methodological challenges and together came up with ideas and strategies for further research and action in the context of the present and increasingly globalized world of biomedicine.
The workshop was organised by Dr. Veena Sriram from UChicago Center for Health and the Social Sciences. The other panelists included prominent health researchers and key stakeholders from various organizations including Dr. Arima Mishra (Azim Premji University), Dr. Sorcha Brophy (University of Chicago), Dr. Rama Baru (Jawaharlal Nehru University) and Dr. Anant Bhan (President, International Association of Bioethics).
State Anti tobacco cell, Government of Karnataka had conducted a coalition meeting of all private stakeholders organisation working on tobacco control measures on 22nd April 2019 at Health Directorate.
Dr Jagadish Joint Director – Medical , Dr Selvarajan Deputy Director – Mediacl, Mr Chandrashekar, Nodal Officer, High Power Committee on Tobacco control, Dr Vishal Rao and Dr Upendra Bhojani.
State Anti Tobacco Cell had organised a Coalition Meeting with all the key stakeholders working on Tobacco control in State on 22nd April 2019 at Health directorate. In the meeting had a discussion on current tobacco control policies and their implementation at grassroot level of all the districts of Karnataka. Dr Upendra Bhojani Assistant Director, IPH, Dr Pragati Hebbar,Faculty, IPH, Dr Chandrashekar, Advocacy Officer, IPH and Dr Vishal Rao, Adjunct Faculty, IPH had participated in the meeting and shared their thoughts on implementation of tobacco control activities and IEC campaign for the upcoming World No Tobacco Day.
Jaison B Kolenchery, a Masters in Molecular Genetics from Leicester University, UK and currently completing his PhD at Exeter University, UK would be presenting a seminar on the topic ‘Understanding Humans’. As humans, we pride ourselves in our perceived intellectual superiority over other living beings that inhabit the earth. While we have achieved so much regarding our scientific understanding of the natural world and technology, we have so much more to accomplish in the areas of discrimination and unhealthy behaviours. This presentation attempts to briefly introduce some peculiar cognitive disorders, biases and logical fallacies in the hope to gain a better understanding of our behaviours and cognitive processes. Furthermore, this may also help in strategising and moulding our circumstances to reduce the incidence of irrational behaviours.Institute of Public Health Bengaluru is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Dr. Renee Heffron, member of the faculty of Global Health and Epidemiology within the International Clinical Research Center at the University of Washington is visiting IPH on the 6th of February (Wednesday). Her research, teaching, and mentoring focuses on advancing the field of HIV prevention and the intersection with reproductive health. She would be delivering a talk on the topic ‘ HIV prevention among people affected by HIV when they desire pregnancy: safer conception’. For HIV serodiscordant couples (in which one partner is living with HIV and one partner is not), having condom less sex to become pregnant can put the HIV-negative member at risk for acquiring their partner’s HIV infection. Safer conception strategies are able to minimize this risk, especially when they are used in combination. In this talk, Dr. Heffron will describe the situation faced by HIV serodiscordant couples and individuals affected by HIV when they desire pregnancy, describe interventions that can minimize sexual HIV transmission risk when pregnancy is desired, and present results from a recent pilot program in Kenya. You are invited to attend the talk in person or via zoom
Speaker
Dr. Renee Heffron
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Affiliation
Member of the faculty of Global Health and Epidemiology
